The Akaroa Mail FRIDAY, JULY 9.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 410, 9 July 1880, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail FRIDAY, JULY 9.

\Vb. ! would remind our readers that to-day at noon is the time appointed for the nomination of a Councillor to , IBllthe |Vac«iney caused hy the resignation of A. •Gγ. Wiggins, Esq. We trast that a 'little more interest will be shown than has iblen evinced heretofore in this Orr rhor,e than. ,qne occasion the application ■for & Councillor has had to be repeated, and wo think, both for the interests of the Borough and to save expense, this course should be avoided. Surely in a ' Borough lijte Akaroa a sufficient number of gentlemen could be found able and willing to act as Councillors. \ What might have been a serious accident happened during the late,, rain on,Mr, iD. M'Kay's farm, Pigeon Bay. A trou* I pond situatedat the back* of that gentleman's dwelling house having .become, swollen, burst its banks and the water came hushing down the narrow creek, tarrying everything before it, Somo heavy black j pine logs over throe feet through were , brought down to the back of the lionso. It also carried away a blacksmith's shop ,and smoking house witli a large quantity 'of JiniuH and bacon. Also, a portion of the ' dairy, and damaged some clice.se. Numbers of trout over a foot long were found down the bay. Mr M'Kay had taken great trouble in cultivating them, and gone to considerable expense in making tin; ponds to keep them in. i .; i-. J.> ■<■ !

Our collector informs us that on Friday net ho endeavoured to reach Little Akaloa, and that he succeeded tso f«r as to be able to reach the sumin it of the hill, and under great and manifold difficulties to be able to descend the Little Akaloa road until t within a mile or a,mile and a half of the Valley, but at that point the obstacle Encountered--being nothing less than a large' tree lying right across the yfad, with a bog oh either side of the tree— bo overcome, and lie was compelled $rice hjs-fiteps. We ennnot helpfjbwifemg .ni.atters must be managed radically Wong , , by the Koad Board in whose BJ|l*fi a roadi lies. We can easily understand the~fti>ad being in a bad state after the late heavy rains; but surely, under the worst loAeep road* at reast passable, Weirifj "the amount of money expended in the tibiT'Sf them." Our "'collector gives it as hie opinion that the road is in such a eta|e as to render it most doubtful whether it -wll-be-fit-for trafficrit {that it is more'"tliari finely 'that large jportions of it ; *jll,be,eniir.ely away iWe would call the attention/ of the! Road [Board to this matter. OtJti'Naders' a Notice appem;-, ing in * our i adivettieinfg'' <*6lnmneV ttiai'Mr. j3. B. Seymour, frpm Chriatchurcb, .yrttl arrive here by the s.s. Taiaroa on' Thursday next, the 15th inst. As he is compelled tmly to imake a •■ short 'atayy;?lie Requests thafcaU who map desire themselves of his services will lose no jime after that date in calling upon him. I A CK'bwDkD of ttfietilployed was held on Friday night at the Oddfellows' Hall, Christchurph.. Councillor Gapes occupied the chafr. : 'TW'object'of the meeting wasjto receive the report of the Deputation, consisting of Messrs Bmdehaw and Olement, which had been sentyto Wellington to interview the Government, —Mr Bradshaw read the report, \vhich length , . Biroihi it, it appeared that the members of the Deputation waited upon the Premier, accompanied by Messrs Stevens and Andrews two of the members for ThelMiniisUr 3£ikdsj[Ho\}. l present during the interview, as well as Mr W. -Jf-rßlaiii, Engineer for the MidfleJ Island,! being in' Wellin-gto'n, wae ? sent for by the . Premier to give information upon certain points. '" Thy first aeked by'the Deputation >ifas whether the Goverrinie'rit woiild'open "up such public, works as would give employment to the anil reasonable wages." —Mr Hall wanted : to , know, first, what they understood,,by., this term. —Mr Bradshaw b'elieyejd that at Dunedin 6s 6d a day was paid, and considered that wolild be fair.—Mr Blair, in answer to questions, earn , that 6s 6d'a day had never been paid on works opened for unemployed men. The same .principle was acted upon in each island. . It might be 1 called a contract basis calculated) to yield 28s a week married men, the; rate for single men being 21 c. The Government supplied a day's food—what was cajled " a ratidn"-—for Iβ J BA >a day. In Otago the contract price paid was Iβ 2d, and Is atOamaru ; -while in Canterbury it w*U Is lfd. The men were charged Is 3d in : each case, and there had been sprue little trouble abpui ty—Mlr Hall thought the Deputation would admit that *the arrangement described by Mr Blair' would not only enable men to livo-while waiting for other work ; but that, in the case. of single men, And'of married ones aWo, there would be Borne little to spare.bver the bare cosjt of living,—-(Mr Bradshaw said ;that the men were under the impression that the Government offjeers tampering <with them; and he thought they must have good grounds for the impression. They were determined to proW IKe matter to the bottom.—A long conversation ensued, , as the outcome of which Mr Hall , promised that further works should be put in hand on the same terms as those 'at. the- W>eka Pass, and the Minister of Lands stated that every facility should bo giyen for settlipg working men upon the land, and the formation of village settlements. Government, however/could/nbt'uridertake-to put men, utterly without means upon the land supply With twelve* months' 'rations, and' findjthcir work out of which to pay for land and rations, which was what was asketl ,by {fiej Dep'utaii<k JAK:i <i